Food contamination is a major concern for food processors, wholesale food suppliers, and restaurants that serve the public. Organisms such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Listeria have been associated with multiple incidents of food related illnesses and some deaths.
Most current food inspection methods rely heavily on the ability of individual human inspectors to see, identify, and target for removal any contamination present. However, many types of contamination are not easily visible to the human eye in normal lighting conditions. Inspector fatigue, less than ideal inspection conditions, and production pressures may also impact the quality of food inspections. Further, it would be advantageous if multiple remotely located inspectors could simultaneously participate in an inspection and document the inspection process for later examination and verification.
To address these issues, some automated food inspection processes and facilities have been developed. However, these processes generally rely on relatively large fixed-base mechanisms that (for example) straddle a production conveyor. Although these automated inspection methods represent an advance over previous inspection processes, their expense, lack of mobility, and process integration requirements limit their utility.
The need exists for a relatively inexpensive mobile inspection device that gives an inspector the ability to conduct a thorough inspection and to document the inspection for later examination. The current invention allows an inspector the flexibility to direct a specialized contamination inspection tool up, over, under, and around a target item. The inspection tool also allows an inspector to view and record the target item under selected spectral conditions, and simultaneously transmit the image to other remotely located inspectors who may conduct complementary or overlapping inspections. The recording means allows the inspector to document the inspection process for later examination by potential customers, regulatory organizations, and others who have an interest in the inspection process. The current invention also allows the remote inspectors to conduct further analysis and send images back to the on-site inspector in real time for display of the analyzed image.